Since the announcement of the " reform " of vocational high schools by Jean-Michel
Blanquer on May 28, worries are growing among teachers and staff. The trade unions relayed
it by writing a joint letter to the minister on June 14th. One thing is certain: the
balance of power will be built as of the beginning of September. ---- The stakes around
the first ministerial announcements are posed: here we are facing a " reform " of
vocational high schools that draws on two sources. That of the austere dogma with a social
plan that threatens thousands of posts, between 6,000 and 7,000 according to union
estimates, of the order of 10% of the global workforce. Macronien that of elitism with the
orbiting of " harvard professional " intended to " meilleur.es " ... while at the
same time there are hundreds of lessons that are promised to the removal, mainly education
" General For the majority of high school students. 300 to 400 hours less in the pro
bin according to the grids, 200 in CAP: it is clear to remove a lot to those who already
have little.

Because what Blanquer does not speak about, these are legitimate demands expressed in many
professional high schools that fight, too often in vain, for means that would make it
possible to ensure conditions of work and study. not acceptable.

Where are the reception classes for first-time students ? Where are the hours of
consultation for educational teams to build projects ? Where are the hours of duplication
to adapt to school audiences in difficulty to give them the opportunity to more and better
progress ? Where are the investments in terms of buildings that would give space to
students and staff to imagine another high school life ? Where are the means in school
life that would ensure a stronger presence of adult staff to better support students ?
Where are the guarantees in terms of academic pursuits for high school students ?

The " reform " Blanquer is not the one needed by professional high schools, their
staff as their students.

At the time of mobilization
This is why it is necessary to build a response that asks the real questions and carries
the real claims. Most trade union organizations are well aware of this. This was expressed
by an inter-union letter sent to the ministry on June 14th. Open personnel letters have
also emerged, pointing to the blind spots of communication on this " reform " which
promises to be very high risk.

Disagreements are still present on the approach to have: thus the Snetaa-FO believes that
the time is first to negotiate " cold " with the services of the Ministry. The urgency
would be to " give time to time ". But several signals indicate instead that it is the
mobilization that is the order of the day, and this as of the return of September.

A national petition was launched by the CGT calling for an " emergency plan for the
professional path ". Departmental or academic inter-unions, whose composition may be of
variable geometry, have already met and discussed initiatives to be taken. On
Orléans-Tours, for example, it is a day of common union information hours on all the
professional high schools of the academy which is already scheduled on Tuesday, September
18th. This idea seems to have been taken up by Snuep-FSU (third organization at national
level).

A national union of trade unions working in vocational education will meet on 28 August.
At the time of writing we do not know the result, but it is clear that a first strike
date, rather quickly, seems a necessity. With or without the majority union ? Perhaps it
will be necessary to free oneself from it.

One could imagine a combative inter-union axis CGT-FSU-SUD succeed in driving a
significant proportion of personnel in the action. Left to take care of next to broader
initiatives.

It's up to the staff to decide
Even if the period of the summer holidays was obviously not favorable, it goes back from
the last collective times in professional lycées (corrections, meetings of end of the year
...) that the teachers and the personnel welcomed very negatively the announcements
ministerial. The idea of organizing union information hours in one place each day, as
suggested by the Orleans-Tours unions, would make it possible to measure the availability
and determination to act together. Because it is well on the employees of high schools
pro, and first on them and them, that can rest a real balance of power. Everything is to
discuss: what mobilization to build ? How to associate the users ? What counter fires to
turn against ministerial propaganda ? What claims to put forward, high school by high
school if necessary ?

And then, because it will be inevitable, what strike to build ? Should we be satisfied
with a few days of action scattered throughout the year ? Is not it better to bet to
widen strikers basins, relying on close days called nationally ?

For this, it is necessary from the outset to ask the question of the articulation between
inter-union initiatives and self-organization. The first hours of union information for
the 2018-2019 school year can be used to establish assembly practices that ensure that the
mobilization is anchored as close as possible to the field. From these meetings, it is
hoped that delegates will be commissioned to coordinate, at different levels, proposals
for actions and initiatives from the staff themselves. That trade union organizations can
of course support and promote. To have all this in mind right now is to prepare to defend
oneself, not to allow oneself to be attacked.

Theo Roumier, Unionist SUD Education

This article is adapted from a ticket produced for the Club Mediapart .